Recap on Tap: Brewers 8, Cubs 7

So, honestly, raise your hand if you thought this affair was going to go 13 innings. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Me either. Oh of course Randy Wolf pitched well, but it’s the scary bullpen that causes the nightmares for the Brewers. Jose Veras‘ implosion turned into a long grand slam for David DeJesus and even Kameron Loe couldn’t stop the bleeding. On the other hand, the Cubs’ bullpen wasn’t as hot either. Carlos Marmol, Michael Bowden, Rafael Dolis and Lendy Castillo gave up a combined seven runs whereas Cubs’ starter Matt Garza only gave up one. Offensively, this game tested both lineups extremely. Any long standing game has effects on guys, especially when we have an early afternoon game tomorrow, but Corey Hart had two clutch hits for us, one of which sealed tonight’s victory.

Before I begin this recap, I have to get something out of my system…WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU PINCH HIT WITH GREINKE? WHAT LOGICAL REASONING DO YOU EVEN HAVE FOR DOING THAT ROENICKE?!?!  Seriously. If you want a pinch hit from a PITCHER put in Gallardo for crying out loud.

Okay…I’m good.

So looking at this game, a win’s a win and we’ll take it, ugly or beautiful. Tonight’s game still shows that our bullpen has not settled down yet, especially John Axford and Jose Veras. After looking pretty dominant in his earlier appearances this season, Veras had slipped up tremendously as of late April, but got somewhat on track until tonight. His ERA was below 2.00, which was the lowest on our entire roster, but now it has ballooned to 7.07 with a WHIP of 2.00. Yikes. While we did draw first blood tonight, it wasn’t in the best way possible. Sure, if you’re going to make an out, make it a productive out, just don’t hit into double plays, *cough Aramis Ramirez *cough. Did I say that out loud? After the first, it’s 1-0 Brewers.

I think after DeJesus’ grand slam making the game now 4-1  in the 7th, we all had that same feeling that we’ve all been mutually sharing as of late…wanting to destroy whatever we can in the closest vicinity. However, the bottom of the 7th started off as gloom and doom. Morgan flies out, Weeks strikes out, but Braun walks. Now, Aramis is up. What do we expect? A ground ball to short? No, in fact what we see is Aramis hit a double scoring Braun making the game 4-2. After the double, Hart reaches on an infield single that was hit to Starlin Castro, which advances Ramirez to third. George Kottaras is walked, loading the bases. Now what did we learn from Wednesday? Bases loaded are opportunities we MUST NOT blow. With Loe due up, Roenicke at this point makes a good adjustment and puts Lucroy in to hit. Fortunately this pays off in a great way as Lucroy hits a bases clearing double, which he tries to turn into a triple but is thrown out. After the seventh, it’s 5-4 Brewers.

The top of the ninth…Axford is on the mound. Get the Axes out Brewers fans, this game is ove- wait David DeJesus just tripled scoring Ian Stewart who got on due to an error by Ramirez. Okay…it’s now 5-5. We’ve seen this before, we can stop it right? NOPE. Even though Castro strikes out, it’s a wild pitch by Axford which allows DeJesus to score and Castro to be safe at first. During Bryan LaHair’s at bat, Castro steals second and eventually scores when Alfonso Soriano hits a single. Axford doesn’t even make it out of the ninth as he is replaced by Tim Dillard. Dillard then finishes off the ninth. After the top of the ninth, it’s 7-5 Cubs.

With Carlos Marmol’s struggles, the Cubs have recently turned to Rafael Dolis to close out their games. His inning starts off good as he gets Braun to fly out, but suddenly it takes a turn for the worst as he walks Ramirez followed by a Corey Hart home run which ties the game. The inning soon ends, going to extras. After nine innings of regulation, we’ve got ourselves a 7-7 tie ladies and gentlemen.

The 10th, 11th and 12th innings are very quiet for both sides as the relief pitching is no longer fooling around at this point. The lineup cards have been completely expanded as both managers decide who they want to bat for the pitchers. The bottom of the 13th is a nightmare Lendy Castillo will soon want to forget. He starts of the inning by hitting Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun right after. Ramirez singles, which loads the bases. At this point, Castillo has not recorded an out and up to the plate is Corey Hart, who hit the tying home run in the 9th. Of course, this scenario is by no means a new thing for Hart as he hits a walk off single to center scoring Weeks and assuring a Brewers’ victory. Thank you Corey.

So, like I said before, a win’s a win and we’ll take this one.

Final stats for May 10th’s game:

Starter stats:

R. Wolf: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K’s (No decision)

M. Garza: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 3 K’s (No decision)

Other stats:

W: V. Chulk (1-0, 6.75 ERA)

L: L. Castillo (0-1, 7.04 ERA)

Home runs: C. Hart (7), D. DeJesus (1)

RBIs: A. Ramirez (18), J. Lucroy 3 (15), C. Hart 3 (16), D. DeJesus 5 (9), A. Soriano (15)

Also to note, Milwaukee’s bullpen gave up seven runs, as did Chicago’s bullpen.

Hopefully tomorrow marks another victory for the Brew Crew!